Position Paper The Kingdom of Belgium (0)

Delegate Student
The Kingdom of Belgium Sten Nurmsalu, Tallinn German Gymnasium
Position Paper for the First Committee of the General Assembly
I. Addressing and Preventing the Growing Threat of Lethal Autonomous Weapons.
The Kingdom of Belgium recognizes the serious threat of Lethal Autonomous Weapons. Permitting machines to take human life in warfare or in law enforcement and other circumstances raises a host of serious ethical, legal , moral, societal and other concerns. Autonomous weapon systems, as defined, are not specifically regulated by International Humanitarian Law treaties either. However , it is undisputed that any autonomous weapon system must be capable of being used, and must be used, in accordance with IHL. These weapons don’t yet exist but are under development in several countries. Once they are created, it may be too late to stop their use.
Last December the government of Belgium funded a research conducted by 116 Professors and PhD students from Belgium, America and Georgia to investigate the threats and problems of so-called ” Killer Robots”. These AI experts and scientists issued a joint statement warning that fully autonomous weapons threaten human rights and dignity , and should also not be used because of their lack of meaningful human control over the critical functions of targeting and engagement in every attack. As well as that has Belgium signed a resolution that prohibits the use of LAW-s by the Belgium military .
Belgium has proposed commencing negotiations in 2019 on a new treaty to prevent the development and use of lethal autonomous weapons systems.
II. The Question of Preventing the Creation and Testing of Nuclear Weapons.
In this day and age, The Kingdom of Belgium thinks that nuclear weapons are one of the most vital weapons that a country can use at war. We think that the NATO countries should constantly upgrade their nuclear arsenal, to be compatible with other nuclear power countries, such as Russia, The Republic of North Korea and many others.
At the moment The Kingdom of Belgium holds in their possession with some other NATO countries the American type B-61 nuclear warheads. We think that by possessing nuclear weapons a country sends out a message not to attack them, as we can see in the example of Pakistan and India.
In the future, we would love to see a world without nuclear bombs, but at the moment we just cannot allow us that, because of the conflicts, that are threatening world peace .
III. Foreign Military Intervention in Internal Conflicts
According to 2014 statistics, as presented by the Fragile State Index, one hundred and twenty -six countries are considered less than stable, with thirty- four countries being in an alert status . There is currently a lack of political will, or societal will, for continued military or financial intervention in the affairs of foreign countries. At the same time, the atmosphere of national security has shifted towards the geopolitical realm with the rise of global terrorism and transnational crime. As these are international problems it is necessary that an international body, like the UN, position themselves to respond to the inevitable crisis that will continue to occur in the future.
During the last two decades, Belgium’s contribution to UN peacekeeping has fluctuated between moderate and high levels of involvement. At the moment is The Kingdom of Belgium 10th largest contributor from EU states and the12th from NATO. Belgium has also participated actively in UN peacekeeping missions in both the Balkans, Africa and later in Sudan and Burundi as well by sending in their military special forces to intervene in the internal conflicts and saving many lives .
In the future will Belgium continue to support justified Military Interventions in Internal Conflicts.